Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) Trading Down 18.3% – Should You Sell?

Upstart Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UPST) shares traded down 18.3% during trading on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $39.21 and last traded at $38.92. 8,145,242 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 28% from the average session volume of 6,364,249 shares. The stock had previously closed at $47.63.

Analyst Ratings Changes

UPST has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their target price on Upstart from $80.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Upstart from $87.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 13th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their target price on shares of Upstart from $100.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Upstart from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $57.00 to $79.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 12th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective (up from $85.00) on shares of Upstart in a report on Wednesday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $73.38.

Upstart Price Performance

The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $62.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.52. The company has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -26.50 and a beta of 2.25.

Upstart (NASDAQ:UPST) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 11th. The company reported ($0.02) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.02. Upstart had a negative net margin of 20.20% and a negative return on equity of 25.87%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Upstart Holdings, Inc. will post -0.03 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Upstart

In other Upstart news, CTO Paul Gu sold 12,007 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $948,793.14. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 1,006,599 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $79,541,452.98. This trade represents a 1.18 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Natalia Mirgorodskaya sold 794 shares of Upstart stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $79.02, for a total transaction of $62,741.88. Following the sale, the insider now owns 21,985 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,737,254.70. This represents a 3.49 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 75,062 shares of company stock worth $5,247,182. Insiders own 18.06% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Upstart

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Upstart by 5.2% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 642,876 shares of the company’s stock valued at $25,721,000 after buying an additional 32,052 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in Upstart by 36.3% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 6,735 shares of the company’s stock valued at $269,000 after acquiring an additional 1,792 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Upstart in the 3rd quarter valued at about $727,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Upstart during the third quarter worth about $102,000. Finally, Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Upstart in the third quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company’s stock.

About Upstart

Upstart Holdings, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates a cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI) lending platform in the United States. Its platform includes personal loans, automotive retail and refinance loans, home equity lines of credit, and small dollar loans that connects consumer demand for loans to its to bank and credit unions.